The Motorola Oakley Rokr
You'd Think People Would have had Enough of Silly Gizmos
Motorola presented some cool and innovative stuff at CES 2006. A new Rokr E2 that abandons their clunky old interface in favor of their new Linux look, as well as the new Bluetooth headset called H5 Miniblue. However, there is a distinct difference between innovation and the ridiculous. The Rokr-Oakley wearable is a device that borderlines on the ridiculous.
Oakley shades are a relic from a bygone era, when Glen Plake ruled the ski hills and Skid Row was considered progressive rock.
No Thump Razrwire Here
The new Moto-Oakley Rokr is not simply an upgrade from the original Razrwire. These sunglasses are actually just a Bluetooth client. Although it is a nice idea, who's going to use them? These Bluetooth-aware sunglasses have built in ear-buds that can playback music or take phone calls from your Bluetooth enabled phone or music player. The Oakley-Rokr is nothing more than a Bluetooth headset. You have the ability to answer calls, pause music, and adjust volume.
The Bluetooth functionality is curiously similar to the H5 Miniblue. In the end, these are just shades with added balloons and dancing midgets. Motorola’s only description of the sound quality from the ear-buds is "digital stereo fidelity." Using the powers of deduction, I wonder if this description actually means: "don’t' expect any decent sound quality."
As a rechargeable Bluetooth client piece, they have a 30 foot range (10 meters) and provide up to 4 hours talk/music listening time. A single charge is good for 100 hours in standby mode. Of course, as Oakley sunglasses you get high quality optics from a company that’s been manufacturing sunglasses for a very long time.
Unlike the Razrwire, these shades alone do nothing but protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful UV rays. There is no storage for MP3 and you need other Bluetooth devices to feed them. Is anyone going to have use for these things? They’re being marketed for outdoorsy types who want to stay connected while doing whatever. Extreme sports maybe? The catch with these glasses is that whatever you do – water skiing, fishing, motor cross - you must ensure you stay within 30 feet of your Bluetooth transmitting source or you lose connectivity. Therefore, the kinds of outdoor/extreme sports you’ll be limited to while listening to music and staying connected through these gizmos are lawn darts or low-impact initiatives.
Just in case you’re the one person that might be interested they’ll be available in the first half of 2006, but nobody knows what the price will be. Whatever the price, it’s too much.